Nanoparticles as Co-matrix for Sensitive Detection of Nucleic Acids by Mass Spectrometry

As the third generation of molecular marker, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has considerable application value in many fields. It requires high-throughput, simple and precise methods for SNP detection. We demonstrated a new nucleic acids detection approach using nanoparticles as co-matrix assisted with laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI MS). Owing to the condensation of metal oxide nanoparticles, we achieved uniform crystallization of organic matrix. Consequently, the detection sensitivity for oligonucleotides could be significantly improved by 8 folds. Our work represented a novel approach for enhancement of SNP detection by LDI MS.